Mentoring Impact

Mentoring is an ongoing process, which could mean anything from a few
meetings over a few months to ongoing support over years and even decades.

David Shiel, founder of Newcastle-based Explain Research helps Andy
Stephenson of Weekend Box with regular, informal mentoring sessions. Here they
discuss the benefits that mentoring has brought to Andy and his business, and
how the relationship developed.

David founded Explain in 1993, having already run his own businesses
and worked in a number of senior marketing roles. Today his company works for
some of the biggest names in research and employs 65 people. Andy Stephenson
founded Weekend Box, a company that provides activities for parents and their
children each week on a loose subscription basis. His company now employs ten
staff and has ambitious plans for expansion.

Andy first met David through a mentoring session organised by the
Entrepreneurs’ Forum, in late 2015, having joined the Forum several months
earlier.

On the importance of mentoring David said: “I didn’t have a mentor when
I started out in business, as a concept mentoring hadn’t really been developed then.
While I did get support and advice from a number of key individuals, in
retrospect, my companies would almost certainly have grown faster if I had a mentor. Because of this I took the opportunity to get involved
in mentoring through the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, and I’ve found a couple of
businesses in particular that impressed me, which I have continued to support.”

Andy said: “The world is full of people who have experience that can
add value to your business, who aren’t always in your particular sector.
Something you notice in the North East more than in some other areas is how
willing people are to help. We have a relatively small, close knit, business
community filled with people looking out for each other.”

When asked about their mentoring relationship Andy said: “I catch up
with David every few months, some people prefer a more frequent and more formal
approach to mentoring, but informal works for me. I have formal relationships with
my board and investors, this dynamic is completely different.”

David added: “For a mentoring relationship to work both parties have to
like and respect each other, you need the right chemistry. It’s not just about
the expertise of the mentor and the sector of the mentee, but in the case of
Andy and myself my retail marketing experience and the nature of Weekend Box do
fit together pretty well.

“The relationship is really informal; our meetings are usually done
over a cup of coffee. Andy is a great ideas person, so it’s useful for him to
have someone outside of the business to discuss his thoughts with.”

Andy described the benefits of the mentoring relationship, saying: “For
me the main benefit is clarity, David helps me to see solutions to problems
that don’t immediately occur if you haven’t already had certain experiences.
David’s advice on building up our team by hiring the right people, and what to
do if you hire people who don’t quite fit, has been invaluable.

“It is also incredibly useful to have someone neutral and independent, without
any vested interests in the company, that you can take your ideas to and have
them challenged.”

David said: “The ideas we’ve discussed include ways for Weekend Box to maximise
its return on investment, and different revenue streams involving existing
brands. It is important for companies like Andy’s to have a synergy with companies
that share its target customers and advertising space.

“I have always been an advocate of strong brand values within a
company, when asked what a company does and stands for every member of the team
should give the same answer. When Andy and I discussed recruitment, I explained
the need for these brand values, and that someone can have the qualifications
and experience you’re looking for, but if they don’t buy into your brand they
aren’t right for your company.”

Access to peer-to-peer
mentoring support is part of Entrepreneurs’ Forum membership and includes confidential
one-to-one connections, round table discussions and mentoring drop-in
surgeries.